Dr Regina Mwatha

She holds a PhD in Sociology with over 20 years’ experience in Gender and Development from University of Reading in Britain. She has served in leadership positons in the public sector as well as regional, and international organisations in various capacities. She was the Vice chairperson office of the Ombudsman November 2011- Dec 2016 and became the Ombudsman 2017. Currently she is a senior lecturer at the department of Gender and development in Kenyatta University.

She was the chairperson of the National Gender and Development Commission from Dec. 2007 to September 2011. From 2010, upon the promulgation of the constitution, she led a successful nationwide campaign to ensure that gender and equality matters were separated in to constitutional commission through an Act of parliament to create an independent constitutional commission on Gender and Equality (Gender and Equality Commission Act 2011).

Previously,Regina worked at Kenyatta University where she combined being a senior lecturer, a researcher and an administrator. As a lecturer she taught and examined undergraduate, master’s as well as PhD students locally and internationally in partnership with Wagenigen University in Netherlands and University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She has published in refereed journals and book chapters some of which she has edited. She has been the external examiner for Makerere University in gender studies department.

As an administrator she rose to the rank of Registrar Administration. She also served as a Gender Specialist at the Department for Policy Management Forum /United Nations Economic Commission for Africa UNECA DPMF. She served as President of the organisation of Social Scientists in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA).

In 2018 she returned to Kenyatta University and is working in the department for Gender and Development studies. She is the project leader, Kenyatta University Women’s Economic Empowerment (KU-WEE) hub.